SARAH "SALLY" WEBER

1930 - 2013

Weber, Sarah "Sally" (Appleton)
83, a distinguished poet, scholar, and short-story writer of Bedford, MA, formerly of Cambridge, MA, Syracuse, New York and Strasbourg, France, died Tuesday, November 12, 2013 at Carleton Willard Village Bedford. She was the beloved wife of Joseph G. Weber. Born in New York City on April 14, 1930 she was the daughter of the late William Channing Appleton and Ellen Sherman (Merriman) Appleton. She attended the Mary C. Wheeler School in Providence, Rhode Island and graduated in 1948 from Oldfields School in Maryland. In 1952, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vassar College and later a Master of Arts and PhD, both in English Literature, from The Ohio State University. During the 1950's, she attended the Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa where she became a life-long friend of many other poets and writers. A published poet and scholar, Ms. Weber authored "The Plenitude We Cry For," "Ladder of the World's Joy," and "Poetry and Form in the Mediaeval English Lyric." She also was the editor and translator of "The Human Phenomenon" by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. After thirty some years of marriage, Sally Sherman Appleton Weber revealed with some embarrassment to her husband that, on her mother's side, she was a descendant of General William Tecumseh Sherman who led the dreaded "scorched earth" march from Atlanta to the sea during the Civil War. As a life-long pacifist she was puzzled by that relationship. More to her liking, as a poet and writer, was her father's side of the family where she could count among her relations, the Colonial preacher, Samuel Appleton, and also Fanny Appleton, wife of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. During the 1950's, she worked as the editor of Jubilee Magazine in New York and became a friend of Dorothy Day and the Jesuit writer, William Lynch. Her commitment to the Catholic Worker Movement lasted throughout her life. She later taught English literature at Smith College and poetry at Syracuse University and in Poitiers and Strasbourg, France. During the 1970's and 80's, she was a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute in Cambridge and gave workshops and readings at many colleges and universities. She was an avid outdoorswoman, sailor and naturalist spending family summers on Deer Isle and Eagle Island, Maine. Deeply committed to environmental issues she was also, throughout her life, a peace and justice activist. She marched with Martin Luther King and participated in many peace "actions" throughout the country. She was a board member of the American Teilhard Association in New York and a member of the Foundation Teilhard de Chardin in Paris, France. In addition to her husband, Joseph, she is survived by a daughter, Elizabeth DiCosimo and her husband Joseph of Binghamton, NY, a son, David A. Weber and his wife Kerry of Binghamton, NY, a granddaughter, Adriana DiCosimo of Binghamton, NY, 2 brothers, William C. Appleton III and family of Brewster, MA and John Appleton and family of Barre, VT, a sister, Chadeayne (Appleton) Roush and family of Wise River, MT. She was also the sister of the late Anne (Appleton) Clarke, a well-known potter and painter of Cambridge and Falmouth, MA, and the late Elizabeth Brashears of Winnetka, IL. A private burial service will be held in the Appleton family burial plot in Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge. Contributions in her memory may be made to Catholic Worker, 36 East First Street, New York, NY 10003 or to Carleton Willard Village, c/o Employees Appreciation Fund, 100 Old Billerica Road, Bedford, MA 01730. To share a remembrance in Mrs. Weber's guest book visit
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